G'day all, what a pita my head lighs are. I replaced the switch recently thinking that would fix them until the loom upgrad kit arives and they worked. As soon as it got dark I tryed them again with no effect. Next day go back out to fiddle and they are working again. Tryed them 5min ago no joy. They must be just scared of the dark.

Hoping the upgrad will fix this, but in the mean time what else could I try?

Easo

Defender???

If your highbeam flashers work they your switch is dicky - can be jumpered by soldering a wire across 2 points of the switch but this is a bit difficut to explain.

If the light flasher doesn't work you need to look elsewhere as it won't be the normal defender head light switch fault. Erich.

your standard light circuit will be what is used to activate the relays on your upgrade kit, so if you lights are scared of the dark now they will still be scared of the dark after the upgrage. I sugust you iron out all existing light problems before you fit the upgrade kit. Dont know what globes you are running now but maybe it may help if you put standard 55/60 globes in while trying to sort out your probems and then refit your better globes when you have fitted the upgrade kit. I have just made my own upgrade kit and now run 90/130w globes and finally have a light I am happy with. I may end up going HID all round next year.
cheers
blaze

Also try the plugs that go into the actual globes. They were the problem for mine - the plugs melted.

High beam flasher works,
Have checked the conections to lights and along the harness and cleaned the connections,
Have replaced the head light switch.

Still running the standard globes.

Could it also be a dodgy relay? What do I need to look for?

Cheers, Easo

Oh been there, been there.

Mine was a combination of switch and a short somewhere in the loom.

Wiring upgrade, and butchery of the switch with a soldering iron sorted it.

From what I remember it wasn't so much a short as a combination of low grade wiring, bad connections, and corrosion. So no actual short to find. Maddening.

Simon

__________________
96 Defender 130 crew cab
88 Isuzu 110
ex 85 Isuzu 3.9 120 ute

I'll say this as it did actually happen last week. Friend who is new to Land Rovers and only recently got a Defender had to replace the light switch. It was dodgy and needed TLC to come on. Replaced and main beam wouldn't work but flash to high beam would...

Guessed the problem yet?


I called around, looked at what he had done and ... turn the ignition on... yep main lights worked


Now I'm sure this isn't the issue here, but I thought I'd just post the bleeding obvious.

Now on to the rest of the possibilities...
Have you checked the fuses and state of the fuse panel - dodgy contact?
Is there anything (e.g. Turbo timer) wired in to the ignition or light switch?

__________________
::: 08 Defender 110 TDCi ::: 99 Defender 110 300Tdi :::
le chat argenté

:::LROCV:::
03 D2 Td5 Auto - broken, fixed and traded
97 D1 Tdi SE7 - Rolled

The head light switch on my defender failed.
I found the best way to get lights working again to finish my trip was to run a by pass on the fuse panel from a live circuit (tail lights) to the head light circuit with a small piece of wire as this doesn't involve any work in removing any thing for access ie the switch.
I priced a replacement switch from rover and i think it was 245 dollars.
Stuff that.
I found Ashdowns sell a universal head light switch which fits in for 30 dollars which requires some crimp terminals to graft on to the original plug.
this switch lasted one year running full current through it.
( I run 150 watt high beam globes with 65 watt low beam ...after market)
I then fitted another switch of the same type and just used a Bosch 30 amp cube type relay just near the switch so the harness is still taking the full current up to the steering column ( I have found the original wiring so far OK for the job and all the problems beening the heavy current load through the switch)and the relay now takes the load of the head lights and the after market switch triggers it and works the parking lights.
So far so good.
The whole thing is converted neatly under the steering wheel switch gear cover .